A Quick Note on Visas + Addendum

This blog concerns visas and what I did to find and get my own.

First off, I want to inform you that I am not a professional in law nor do I have all of the details regarding the different visas, their requirements, etc.

Now that that's out of the way, I will get into it. . .I got my visa from the internet because it is an Electronic Travel Authority Visa. Basically, it was all digital so anybody who needed the information had access to it including the airport which made my flight quite simple. This visa is typically abbreviated just as a simple ETA visa.

At the time of this blog, the visa lasts for 1 year and I can come and go as I please for that single year. Renewal is as easy as paying for it again on the internet. One of the few stipulations of the visa is, I can only stay in Australia for 3 months at a time. After each 3 months I must leave the country. My understanding of the law, again this is my own rendition and not necessarily the exact quotation from the law, is that I would go outside of Australia for a day or so e.g. New Zealand and then get a flight back on the following day.

Another stipulation, by the way, stipulation means a specified requirement typically as part of an agreement, was that I could not legally work while in Australia with this visa. Whether you decide to work cash-in-hand is up to you but I can't recommend it as that would be against the law. The best bet if you do want to work cash-in-hand is to visit markets such as a Field Days or Caravan Shows and talk to the vendors. Again, I can't recommend this idea because that would be illegal and I don't need law issues with my new blog!

The countries whose residents are eligible for the ETA visa are:

• Brunei
• Canada
• Hong Kong SAR
• Japan
• Malaysia
• Singapore
• South Korea
• United States of America

This is as of the 5th of April 2010 and I copied the data from this website, http://www.eta.immi.gov.au/
Visit that site to glean further details of what you need to procure the visa.

If you are eligible it will only take you about 5 minutes to have the ETA visa. You just need your credit card, passport details and a few other personal bits. Again, the renewal is the same process and will only take a few minutes.

-New Zealand Visa -
My entry into New Zealand will be even simpler as people from several countries including my own, USA, are eligible for a visitor's 90 day visa upon entry.
Again, there is the stipulation that I must not work while on this visitor 90 day visa so I will arrive with funds saved up from before-hand. It was recommended from the New Zealand website that you have a flight out of the country as well and the airport police may check this point. This is to help prevent against illegal immigrants into the country.

Well, that is a brief introduction to a few of the visa requirements and eligibility points for those of you interested in visiting Australia and/or New Zealand.

It was very easy for me with my visas but always make sure you check for yourself the procedure for procuring a visa and are totally okay to be visiting a country. Otherwise, you may end up in the airport of the country you are visiting but not granted access to the country and quickly deported home. That can be a real buzz-kill and an ultimate waste of money.

-Addendum-
I posted an article on http://ezinearticles.com regarding further reasons to travel which weren't covered on my blog. I will give you a link to it in my next blog.

Best,
Daniel A